10:1-21
Part 1, Section 1, Chapter 2, Article 1, SubSection 2, Heading 3 60 The people descended from Abraham would be the trustee of the promise made to the patriarchs, the chosen people, called to prepare for that day when God would gather all his children into the unity of the Church. 18 They would be the root on to which the Gentiles would be grafted, once they came to believe. 19 Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 3, Paragraph 3, SubSection 3, Heading 6 553 Jesus entrusted a specific authority to Peter: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 287 The "power of the keys" designates authority to govern the house of God, which is the Church. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, confirmed this mandate after his Resurrection: "Feed my sheep." 288 The power to "bind and loose" connotes the authority to absolve sins, to pronounce doctrinal judgements, and to make disciplinary decisions in the Church. Jesus entrusted this authority to the Church through the ministry of the apostles 289 and in particular through the ministry of Peter, the only one to whom he specifically entrusted the keys of the kingdom. Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 4, Paragraph 1 574 From the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, certain Pharisees and partisans of Herod together with priests and scribes agreed together to destroy him. 317 Because of certain acts of his expelling demons, forgiving sins, healing on the sabbath day, his novel interpretation of the precepts of the Law regarding purity, and his familiarity with tax collectors and public sinners 318-some ill- intentioned persons suspected Jesus of demonic possession. 319 He is accused of blasphemy and false prophecy, religious crimes which the Law punished with death by stoning. 320 Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 4, Paragraph 2, SubSection 1, Heading 1 595 Among the religious authorities of Jerusalem, not only were the Pharisee Nicodemus and the prominent Joseph of Arimathea both secret disciples of Jesus, but there was also long-standing dissension about him, so much so that St. John says of these authorities on the very eve of Christ's Passion, "many.. . believed in him", though very imperfectly. 378 This is not surprising, if one recalls that on the day after Pentecost "a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith" and "some believers. . . belonged to the party of the Pharisees", to the point that St. James could tell St. Paul, "How many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed; and they are all zealous for the Law." 379 Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 4, Paragraph 2, SubSection 1, Heading 1 596 The religious authorities in Jerusalem were not unanimous about what stance to take towards Jesus. 380 The Pharisees threatened to excommunicate his followers. 381 To those who feared that "everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation", the high priest Caiaphas replied by prophesying: "It is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish." 382 The Sanhedrin, having declared Jesus deserving of death as a blasphemer but having lost the right to put anyone to death, hands him over to the Romans, accusing him of political revolt, a charge that puts him in the same category as Barabbas who had been accused of sedition. 383 The chief priests also threatened Pilate politically so that he would condemn Jesus to death. 384 Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 4, Paragraph 2, SubSection 3, Heading 1 606 The Son of God, who came down "from heaven, not to do his own will, but the will of him who sent him", 413 said on coming into the world, "Lo, I have come to do your will, O God." "And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." 414 From the first moment of his Incarnation the Son embraces the Father's plan of divine salvation in his redemptive mission: "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work." 415 The sacrifice of Jesus "for the sins of the whole world" 416 expresses his loving communion with the Father. "The Father loves me, because I lay down my life", said the Lord, "for I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father." 417 Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 4, Paragraph 2, SubSection 3, Heading 3 609 By embracing in his human heart the Father's love for men, Jesus "loved them to the end", for "greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." 425 In suffering and death his humanity became the free and perfect instrument of his divine love which desires the salvation of men. 426 Indeed, out of love for his Father and for men, whom the Father wants to save, Jesus freely accepted his Passion and death: "No one takes life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord." 427 Hence the sovereign freedom of God's Son as he went out to his death. 428 Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 4, Paragraph 2, SubSection 3, Heading 6 614 This sacrifice of Christ is unique; it completes and surpasses all other sacrifices. 441 First, it is a gift from God the Father himself, for the Father handed his Son over to sinners in order to reconcile us with himself. At the same time it is the offering of the Son of God made man, who in freedom and love offered his life to his Father through the Holy Spirit in reparation for our disobedience. 442 Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 5, Paragraph 2, SubSection 2 649 As for the Son, he effects his own Resurrection by virtue of his divine power. Jesus announces that the Son of man will have to suffer much, die, and then rise. 516 Elsewhere he affirms explicitly: "I lay down my life, that I may take it again. . . I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." 517 "We believe that Jesus died and rose again." 518 Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 3, Article 9, Paragraph 1, SubSection 1, Heading 1 754 "The Church is, accordingly, a sheepfold, the sole and necessary gateway to which is Christ. It is also the flock of which God himself foretold that he would be the shepherd, and whose sheep, even though governed by human shepherds, are unfailingly nourished and led by Christ himself, the Good Shepherd and Prince of Shepherds, who gave his life for his sheep. 146 Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 3, Article 9, Paragraph 1, SubSection 2, Heading 4 764 "This Kingdom shines out before men in the word, in the works and in the presence of Christ." 163 To welcome Jesus' word is to welcome "the Kingdom itself." 164 The seed and beginning of the Kingdom are the "little flock" of those whom Jesus came to gather around him, the flock whose shepherd he is. 165 They form Jesus' true family. 166 To those whom he thus gathered around him, he taught a new "way of acting" and a prayer of their own. 167 Part 3, Section 2, Chapter 1, Article 2, SubSection 3 2158 God calls each one by name. 87 Everyone's name is sacred. The name is the icon of the person. It demands respect as a sign of the dignity of the one who bears it. Return